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Author: David

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Should a small carpet cleaner focus on "building a brand"? Surely you say, well that's OK for the likes of Coca-Cola and Nike, but I just run a small business! And don't make the mistake of fondly imagining that all you need to have a brand is a new slogan or a redesigned website or brochure.

But what exactly is a brand? Too often even marketing professionals don't have an answer, and too many have their 'own' answer.

But it really all boils down to this: A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer. I like to think of branding as the likelihood of someone using our service again. (or for the very first time). Therefore it's something that is intangible!

This definition makes it clear how to build a brand. A brand is built not only through effective communications or appealing logos. A brand is built through the total experience that it offers.

According to Al Ries in the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, the power of a brand lies in its ability to influence purchasing behaviour. But a brand name on a package is not the same as a brand name in the mind of the consumer.

A few years ago on a Greek island I wanted to buy a cola drink. Now I don't particularly like cheap cola. All the labels were in a language I could not understand. But one had the clearly defined logo and corporate identity of Coca-Cola. And so I bought it. Now it wasn't just that the logo was the brand. It was the fact that it would deliver a promise, that I knew it would be the same as I could buy back home. In other words it would deliver the quality I wanted. The brand was all in my mind!

That's why it's so important for us to focus on giving our customer what she wants and to have systems in our business to make sure that happens.

Here's an example:

I've just come back from a two week holiday in Cuba. I stayed at the Melia Cayo Guillermo on the north of the island. I've never stayed at a Melia hotel before but what I experienced there made sure that it won't be the last.

From a welcome drink on arrival, very quick check-in time to problems being sorted quickly it was evident that we were going to have a good time. All the staff including the gardeners who kept the place immaculate said hello and were very friendly. When we left I saw something I have never seen before. Virtually the entire staff including the manger came to wave us goodbye. The manager even remembered the names of repeat guests. I found out over the course of the two weeks that several of the guests had been here multiple times. The staff genuinely cared about the satisfaction of their guests.

So using the test of ˜the likelihood of using you again" the Melia in my mind has created a strong brand. I would definitely stay there again. I have never felt so well-cared for on holiday. And I am more likely to try other Melia hotels.

Now how can we transfer this to our carpet cleaning business?

According to Al Ries, a brand is a singular idea or concept that you own in the mind of the prospect. In other words we must be unique in the customers mind. The worst thing that we can be is a commodity, interchangeable with any other carpet cleaner. So we need to give the perception that there is no service on the market like ours.

We also cannot appeal to everybody. We cannot be "all things to all people" We can't be the lowest priced and the highest quality service. So we need to choose our target customer, price accordingly and exclude everybody else.

And we need to be in the "relationship" business. Genuinely care about our clients. Give them exactly what they want. Regularly keep in touch with them through a newsletter and reminder cards. Thank them when they do business with us or refer us.

And most importantly, put all of this into a system so our clients get the same experience every time.

Ideally we'd like to get to the point with our business where people instead of asking for an expensive Swiss watch, ask for a Rolex.

That's why it's so important for us to focus on giving our customer what she wants and to have systems in our business to make sure that happens.

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If you were to seek advice on improving your business, you would likely be told that you need to “build your brand” or create “brand awareness”

Typically this means spending money on a fancy logo and generally telling the marketplace what a great business you are. If you do this, you are following the lead set by many, many corporate type companies.

But is this the best way for you as a small carpet cleaner to get more sales?

I was intrigued recently while watching Manchester United play Arsenal at football (soccer) to see that the travel firm Thomas Cook have changed their logo. It was on one of the electronic billboards.

A bit of research on the internet revealed more:

  • “This week the Thomas Cook Group unveiled the next stage in its journey back from the edge of a financial abyss: a new corporate identity known as the "Sunny Heart"
  • According to the firm, "The new, unified brand captures the essence of Thomas Cook: how it delivers inspiring personal journeys as the trusted pioneer in global travel." (The Independent)
  • “Thomas Cook says that the new visual identity and branding looks to reflect the ‘warmth and approachability’, ‘trust and personalisation’ and ‘message of High Tech, High Touch’ of the brand.”
  • “Tour operator Thomas Cook has ditched the globe logo it first used in 1880, replacing it with a 'Sunny Heart', as the tour operator continues its recovery from near collapse. The 172-year-old firm unveiled the design alongside a new slogan - 'Let's Go' - spelling the end for its famous motto 'Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it.' The rebranding is part of a root-and-branch overhaul by new boss Harriet Green, who was recruited last year to save the household name from collapse, after it was bailed out by its banks.” (Daily Mail)

You’ll notice that in response to near collapse, they have decided that the answer is…a new logo!

But surely the most important question of all is..will this lead to SALES?

Let’s ask one of its valued customers…ME!

I’ve travelled with Thomas Cook twice in the last 18 months. What has been my experience? On my recent trip to Mexico the transfer took two and a half hours arriving at my hotel at the equivalent of two in the morning. The problem? The advertised transfer was one hour. The previous year with a rival firm was 35 minutes. Apparently they had crammed in more drop-off points before ours!

On a previous holiday to Egypt, they cancelled an entire plane leaving passengers bound for Manchester to travel via Gatwick. An add-on of several hours. Incredibly they didn’t let the Manchester bound passengers know until they got to the airport in Egypt. It also meant that although I had pre-booked a window seat, I ended up sitting in the centre row.

I decided there and then that I would NOT travel with this company again unless I had very little choice.

Would the money spent on “re-branding” not be better spent on improving the experience for the customer? Frankly I don’t care about their logo or their “trust and personalisation” or their “warmth and approachability.” But I do care about getting what I’ve paid for. A re-brand (“new pretty logo”) does not fool me!

So what brand strategy should you follow?

  • Forget “brand awareness” You don’t know whether it’s successful or not as it can’t be measured.
  • Forget advertising to simply remind people of your existence. Killer advertising is simply salesmanship multiplied according to copywriter Gary Halbert
  • A good ad will work the first time. They don’t need to see it 7, 15 or 20 times
  • Don’t be fooled that a brand is the most important thing. The people who give you money are!
  • Forget ‘clever’ type advertising with just your ‘image’ displayed. If your salesman acted strange or did a silly dance and then mentioned the name of your company at the end you wouldn’t want it. Instead you want them to find out what the persons problem is, what their objections are and present your product as the best solution. That’s salesmanship!

I’ll give the last word to Claude Hopkins who wrote about silly logo’s and image type advertising this way: “Instead of sales, they seek applause”

I say…Let them have the applause - my bank doesn’t accept it!

 

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How do you give quotes or estimates? Do you just wing it or do you have a structured system in place? A marketing guru once commented that if you don’t have a system for selling in place you fall victim to the prospects system for not buying!

A recent experience shows the benefits of having a selling SYSTEM:

I live in a 1930’s house that needs a new front door and two small windows that join to it. Outside the front door is a small wooden porch that has seen better days.  I recently invited a reputable company to give me a quote for replacement for all this. What followed was a lesson in how not to sell!

First, remember that all salesmen are problem solvers.  In other words people do not buy products or services for the sake of it – they want a specific problem solved.

I was hoping for the salesman to educate me as to what could be done and to offer advice so that I could make an informed decision. Instead he highlighted several reasons why I couldn’t have what I wanted. Admittedly the porch was a problem as it was old but he simply didn’t want to deal with it. What he should have said was “If I were you, I wouldn’t waste your money on the porch…but maybe think about this…”

Lesson: Always act in the best interests of your customers. Educate them as to what is possible. If they would be better off replacing the carpets…tell them! Use photo’s, testimonials etc. They need to view you as a trusted advisor. When they do, price becomes less important.

He proceeded to lecture me about his windows but didn’t find out what my concerns were. Was I worried about security or keeping the heat in or did I just want the cheapest option? Why did I want to replace my windows? When I told him clearly which door I wanted, he began speaking about the others in the brochure.

Lesson: Use consultative selling. Ask a systemised series of questions to first of all qualify your prospect. Then find out exactly what they want and give it to them. Listen to what the prospect really wants. Find out their main concerns. It could be quick drying or whether a particular stain can be removed.

I asked him why I should do business with his company and whether all windows were the same. When I asked the difference between windows he replied “Price and Quality.” I asked what I would get if I paid more. The answer - “Better quality.” But what does this mean?

Lesson: Be clear why customers should use you versus your competitors. Reject those who don’t fit your criteria. It’s important to have a clear Unique Selling Proposition rather than “choose us because we’re no worse than anybody else”

When I asked about Thermal Rating he responded by telling me that his windows are C rated and that A rated windows are very expensive. And that his competitors would rip me off! In fact he spoke at length about bad fitters and their practices. The salesman constantly used the word cr*p, when describing his competitors.

Lesson: Don’t bad-mouth your competition. It’s not until you hear someone do this that you realise how bad it sounds. It makes you seem very unprofessional.

Speak and act professionally at all times. Also, you are not your own customer. Don’t assume they cannot afford to buy, particularly when offering protector. Last year we cleaned the carpets for a lady living in an area we would not normally clean in. I wondered whether we would actually get paid, yet she had protector on her carpets and gave the technician a £20 tip!

 

And finally… the salesman drove off in his flash Audi TT and never followed up. I’ve not heard from him since!

By the way, I've just noticed that the company is no longer in business!

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Here's a reprint of an article I wrote for the National Carpet Cleaners Association magazine in the UK back in 2009. I think you'll find that it still applies!

Earlier this year I was watching a football agent being interviewed on Sky Sports. It was the day after the football transfer window had closed. The reporter asked him “Is the recession affecting football clubs?” His was response was that in general it wasn't. In fact he made the point that more players had been sold for a sum over £10 million than ever before. Determined to report some doom and gloom, she said that smaller clubs must surely be having a bad time. When the answer was again a negative, the reporter concluded with the comments “So at the moment, football is not being affected by the recession but how long it will be before it does…we will have to wait and see!”

This interview was a prime example of the media of today. Report ‘doom and gloom’. And if there isn’t enough, make some up. I’ve found it helpful to remind myself of the real economic situation in this country at the moment. After all, I’ve not really found my business that affected by the “recession”. In fact, two weeks ago, we had our busiest week for well over 12 months. All residential work I might add.

So here are the facts: According to the National Statistic Office the workforce in the UK is about 30 million out of a population of around 60 million. Unemployment is around 6.5% as we’ve now passed the critical two million mark.

Hold on…doesn’t that mean that 93.5% of the workforce are…in employment!

Even if it rises to the dizzy heights of three million as the worst predictions seem to be, doesn’t that mean that 90% or 9 in every 10 people who are able to work are actually in a job. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad. Not only that, but the public sector (ie: taxpayer funded jobs) has actually taken on more staff over the last year and given them above average pay rises!

Parallels with the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930’s doesn’t help either. Paradoxically, life got much better for those who kept their jobs back then. The cost of living fell sharply, so their spending power rose sharply. Some parts of Britain were actually more prosperous at the end of the 1930’s than before.

I now make it a point to tell these facts to as many of my clients as possible. Many seem to think that soon nobody will be in work or have any money. Yet there are many firms doing well. Cadbury’s for example has recently reported a 30% increase in annual sales, up from £430M to £559M. A Daily Mail article in February had the headline ‘Fee Paying Schools Beat The Recession’. Apparently record numbers of parents want to put their children into expensive private schools.  There are many, many more.

Getting through the “Recession” is largely a mindset thing. I have heard of several people who have stopped reading the newspapers over recent months. The effect has been that they have simply stopped worrying about any “downturn”. For us, we have made sure that we target PWM (people with money), explained very clearly why we are the best value for them and have not reduced our prices at all. When things are ‘tight’, people still spend, they are just more careful with whom.

Oh by the way, in a recession, nearly every business cuts its marketing spend. If you increase yours to find high quality, high service seekers who are prepared to pay a premium price for it, your business can not only withstand a recession, it can positively thrive!

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It’ was 4:30pm on Friday 9th January 2009 and I’d had several phone calls to book in work. Normally January and February are expected to be quiet months in the carpet cleaning industry. Yet, we were busier than ever…even more so than December.

What had caused these homeowners to phone my office on this day? Quite simply…a deadline!

I had sent out a number of reminder cards to existing clients telling them that if they want to take me up on an offer they must respond by Friday 9th January. And they did. In droves.

It’s amazing how a deadline focuses the mind of potential clients. Why a flurry of calls right at the end? I imagine my prospects mentally going through a fear of loss. That if they didn't phone by that day they would miss out. They simply cant just ‘put it off’.

I clearly remember about 11 years ago agonising over a buying decision. I had received a very good offer from a company saving me money on a particular product…but only if I responded by a certain date. And today was the date. I had to make a decision. I wanted the product but it was a lot of money. I was going on holiday the next day. If I wanted to buy I had to make the decision NOW. And I did. I bought. This was one of my first experiences with the power of a deadline.

It’s been said that the deadline is one of the best things ever invented. It forces people to make a decision. One they probably would have put off and put off until they forgot about it. It seems to be human nature to procrastinate. Now we never send out an offer without one. Often we will have prospects phoning us AFTER the deadline pleading with us to do business with them because they have just come back off holiday and found our postcard, flyer or letter. And of course that changes our positioning. All of a sudden they are just relieved that we will even consider doing business with them.

But you must be believed that the deadline is genuine. So make it genuine. After all, if you offer a discount (or as I prefer, to add value rather than discount) you must have a good reason for doing it. It could be that you are making an offer (perhaps 3 rooms cleaned for the price of 2) in a certain area until a certain date. Or you could be limiting the number of jobs you will do with the offer. Whatever the reason for the offer being limited in some way, it must be believed. It then stands a good chance of being acted upon.

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I’ve just returned from a local business exhibition with over one hundred small businesses exhibiting. It’s a great place to learn.

Marketing experts like Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham speak about the need to look at businesses outside of your own and learn from what they do well. I must admit that there didn’t seem to be much to learn from what they did well but plenty from what they did badly. These lessons are so much easier to see in a different industry as we are usually too close to our own.

Lesson 1. The need to qualify. Virtually everyone who stopped me failed to find out if I was a qualified prospect. (A qualified prospect is someone who: 1. must be able to buy, 2. must be able to enjoy a benefit, and 3. must be the decision maker)

Here’s an example: A very pleasant man on the Freesat stand proceeded to give me a long spiel about how I needed to have Freesat in my home as it would save me money. “I may not need to subscribe to Sky, particularly if I don’t watch the movies or the football” was his pitch. After about one minute I stopped him and told him that I’ve already got a Freesat receiver (which actually wasn’t true, but it was the only was to stop him). He’d fallen in love so much with his product that he forgotten to fall in love with his clients. Freesat is a High Definition service and I have only just bought a new plasma tv so I simply wont be using Freesat for the foreseeable future. He simply wasted his time with me when he could have been speaking to someone interested (wanting to enjoy a benefit) and ready to buy.

Lesson for us: Have a system in place to make sure prospects are qualified and filter out those who don’t. Many people have dirty carpets…but they don’t care! Or they don’t want to pay premium prices to have them cleaned.

 

Lesson 2. Need for a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). A business owner of a very high-end hi-fi stand caught me looking at his gear. That was enough for him to launch into his pitch. Again he failed to qualify. He simply assumed that I was interested. I bluntly told him that I wasn’t his target market or ideal client as I would never spend that amount of money on hi-fi. He did then explain that they also sold lower-end televisions. So I asked the all-important question: “Why should I do business with you versus your competitors?” His answer was the usual “we give better service; we look after you blah blah blah”.

By coincidence I have just bought a large screen LCD TV which was faulty. I bought it off the internet through Amazon. When I phoned to tell them that it was faulty, it was absolutely no problem at all. They simply asked “would you like it changed or would you like a refund?” No arguments or fuss. I changed it for a plasma TV. Now that’s great service. To just say that you give “better service” is not a compelling reason for a prospect to choose you.

Lesson for us: Make sure we are able to give prospects a compelling reason to discriminate in our favour. This must be specific reasons not just “good service” It must also be different from all our competitors. In our industry we can’t all “give the most thorough cleaning or it’s free” or it’s not unique now is it?

Lesson 3. The need to look the part. A firm of painters and decorators caught my eye because their target market was clearly high-end work. Everything on the stand indicated that they do a quality job except the young man who was sitting there. I can only describe him as unkempt and scruffily dressed with long hair and jeans. Not the sort of person I would want in my house. This is what’s known as an anti-USP because it works against the USP.

Lesson for us: If we are targeting high-end clients make sure that we look and act like they want us to. This includes having our vans clean and tidy, wearing a uniform and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Make sure that our whole business is congruent with our message.

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There is one thing above all else that can determine how successful you can be as a carpet and upholstery cleaner.

That one thing is ‘Positioning’.

According to Jack Trout and Al Ries in their book Positioning, The Battle for Your Mind, ‘positioning’ all takes place in your customers mind. It'’s how the marketplace perceives you.

It’s likely that they already have a view on you and your service. They may think that you’re a ‘budget’ cleaner or a ‘high-end’ cleaner.

If you’re their ‘budget’ cleaner they may be very happy with your service for what they’re paying you. But if they have an insurance claim for example (and someone else is paying the bill) they may choose one of your competitors to do the work because they perceive them to be much better. It doesn’t matter whether they really are or not. In the client’s mind, they are....and that’s all that counts!

So are you viewed as just a carpet cleaner? Or as a consultant who can advise them of how to take care of their furnishings?

A carpet cleaner will only get paid so much. But a consultant, a trusted advisor will get paid much more.

Why is this? Simply put…people value consultants. If you’re taken into Accident and Emergency with severe chest pains and the consultant says “we need to operate immediately”, you don’t say “well, my brother-in-law knows a bit about heart conditions...” You trust his recommendation and go along with it. You’re relieved that you’ve found someone who knows what he’s doing. That’s exactly the same view that you want your clients to have.

But what if you feel that you don’t have this ‘expert’ status?  Then simply appoint yourself as an expert. That doesn’t mean simply pretending to be one. Instead, get all the training you need to become an expert and then convey that to the marketplace.

The best way to do this is to use ‘Education-Based Marketing’. Write reports or other educational material that can be given to interested homeowners that shows them that you are indeed an expert. For example, write an information guide that educates homeowners on why they need to have carpets cleaned regularly and how to choose a reputable carpet cleaner. Don’t make it a sales pitch. Simply present information that the homeowner can learn from and they will automatically view you as the expert. And people are desperate for information to help them make the right decision.

Other strategies could include:

  • Having an educational recorded message telephone line.
  • Acting with an air of authority (as a doctor addressing a patient) when speaking about their cleaning problems. No hesitating or pausing...just honest, confident advice from a trusted consultant, acting with their best interests at heart.
  • Giving the perception of being ‘in demand’. You want your prospects to have the attitude “I’m so glad I’ve found you. Now, how can I get on your waiting list?”

Your ultimate goal should be to position and market your business so that your prospects and customers have no choice but to come to the inescapable and undeniable conclusion that...”I would have to be thinking completely irrationally and be totally out of my mind to even consider doing business with anyone else but you regardless of price or the relationship I have with my current carpet cleaner”

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I've found that there are two kinds of carpet cleaners: Those who quote over the phone and those who don't. And both have their reasons for each process.

When you quote over the phone it's so easy. No getting in the car or van and driving many miles to see a prospect who perhaps is only interested in a low price or is getting three or four estimates... or whose carpets are beyond cleaning. However, you won't close as many jobs.

Giving an in-home quote on the other hand can be very time consuming. You may spend 20 - 30 minutes in a home but you are much more likely to secure the job.

So which is best?

There are a number of factors to consider. If you are targeting high-end homeowners, there's no doubt that giving an in-home quotation is far more profitable at the end of the day AND will save you time. The secret is to only visit those who are worthy of your valuable time. In other words, filter out all those who do not fit your ideal client criteria. This is usually not done and is the main reason why many resort to quoting over the phone.

So why does an in-home visit result in more jobs?

It's because we are able to present our case much better. We can use photos, flip charts and testimonials to persuade the prospect to use us and not a competitor. Remember marketer Dan Kennedy's question: "Why should your prospect do business with you versus every other option available to her including what she's already doing and including doing nothing at all?" Only an in-home presentation can do a good job of answering this question.

And crucially, we are told that in communication:

  • 7% of the message is conveyed by words
  • 38% by tone
  • 55% by body language

That means that by quoting over the phone more than half our message is not getting through! How can we persuade and convince someone if most of our message is hidden? It means though that we must make sure we look and sound worthy of them hiring us.

So how can an in-home presentation be more profitable? 

Apart from closing more jobs, if we're going to all the trouble of helping a prospect make a right decision by choosing our high-quality work rather than risk a competitor, then we need to be charging more for this. Higher prices = more bottom line profit.

And how can in-home quotations save us time? 

Simply by being selective who we visit in the first place. Do not visit everyone who asks! Only give in-home quotations to those who qualify. That is, they prove on the phone that they are the type of clients that we want...that they are prepared to pay a higher price for top quality work. This can be done with a series of well thought out questions.

So how can we be really sure whether we should quote over the phone or in-home?

The answer is the same as with all marketing... test! Spend one week quoting over the phone and track your results and one week only doing in-home visits but at a higher price. Note how many jobs are closed, the average job ticket as well as the time spent giving quotations. Track profit per hour.

And of course, don't forget the lifetime value of a client. It may cost us more in time and money to acquire a client in the first place but if they are worth several thousands of pounds in repeat work (for which we can quote over the phone) and referrals, what's the point in trying to save a few pounds initially by quoting over the phone?

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Many carpet cleaners have been panicking as the media constantly talks about the 'recession' here in the UK. After all, carpet cleaning is not exactly a necessity. Homeowners don’t have to have their carpets and upholstery cleaned. So when times are hard, people will spend their money on food, clothing, petrol and maybe a few feel-good items But carpet cleaning?  Hardly...unless you target the right people.

Failure to target is a very common mistake among carpet cleaners. Many feel that ‘everyone with a carpet’ is their potential customer. They often seem more intent on fighting over the scraps at the ‘price-sensitive’ end of the market. So when times get hard as they almost certainly will over the next few months, they find that customers who are more concerned about ‘price’ disappear. They are the first to cut back on non-essentials as they simply don’t have the money. In every market, there are always those who want the cheapest price and there are those who want the best…no matter what it costs.

The easiest way to survive a recession is to target those who are least affected…the high-end residential market. Those who still have a high disposable income.

If a homeowner is spending virtually 100% of their income on ‘necessities’ there’s no money left to pay for carpet cleaning. But to a person who only spends 20% of their income on necessities…they still have a lot left over to spend. These are the ones we want to be targeting.

And there are so many advantages to choosing high-end residential clients for your carpet and upholstery cleaning business.

  • You will only work between 8.30am & 4.30pm, Monday to Friday. The cleaning business is notoriously known for unsociable hours. But not if you target high-end residential clients. We only work from 8.30am – 4.30pm at the latest. We rarely work weekends. And if we do, it’s because the job is extremely high paying.
  • You don’t have to answer the telephone 24 hours a day. I used to think that it was absolutely necessary to have the telephoned answered by a live person at all times, and especially during ‘office hours.’ While it’s good if you can do this, if you set up your business properly (ie position yourself as a consultant and build a relationship with them), people will leave a message on an answering machine or will phone back later. It’s not ideal, but it sure beats being tied to the telephone in case you miss a work enquiry. I still run my business from home but have a separate business phone line that goes on to answerphone at 5pm every day. And the phone is never answered at weekends. This means you can actually take days off without feeling guilty that the phone’s not being answered.
  • Not only that, their carpets are often not very dirty. They are soiled of course, but not like you find at the lower end of the market. We often wonder why they have called us out to clean them. Their carpets also tend to be higher quality and more expensive, therefore it makes sense to them to have them maintained rather than replaced. It’s easier to justify cost of cleaning versus much larger cost of replacement. As we know, higher quality carpets look better after cleaning than cheap synthetics.
  • High-end clients tend to be more loyal. Usually they have difficulty finding good tradesman that they feel comfortable with. Now that they have found you – they will stick with you. Unlike commercial carpet cleaning who are always looking for a cheaper price. Or there can be a change of manager. He brings in his old cleaners. Or he decides to flex his muscles by reducing cleaning costs so he can look like a hero to his boss. Many commercial contracts have been lost not due to poor work, but simply a change of management and different ideas.
  • High-end residential clients are not as price sensitive. They are generally old enough to have had bad experiences – they know you can always get it cheaper but that you “get what you pay for.” One of my clients used to quote his grandmother - “Buy cheap – buy thrice.” Many of my clients happily spend £400, £500 and more to have their carpets cleaned without batting an eyelid. But of course, it’s all relative. If that figure is but a small part of their disposable income, they are hardly going to be trying to knock you down on price to save a ‘mere’ £50.
  • It’s possible to build a relationship with them. This is absolutely critical. The best business relationships are just that...relationships. Transaction buyers hop from supplier to supplier when they have a ‘Sale’...not so with ‘Relationship’ buyers. They trust you as their advisor who wants the best for them.

So, to avoid the recession…just change your customers to better ones.

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What do most people fear about inviting a salesman to their homes? Yes, it’s fear of being a victim of high-pressure selling.

However, whereas people don’t like to be ‘sold’ anything, they do like to buy. They like to feel that they are in control of the buying situation and are not being manipulated.

Education based marketing does a great job of this. It gives people what they want (information) and removes what they don’t want (a sales pitch).

Homeowners do have to be educated about carpet and fabric cleaning. How often have you had this said to you? - “My dining room carpet doesn’t need cleaning yet as it’s only been down eight years.”

As we know, appearance is not the only reason to clean carpets. More people will respond to our message if we let them know that their carpets actually are dirty because carpets hide all the soil before it’s visible. And that they can save the expense of early replacement by maintaining their costly investment.

So how exactly do you do it?

1. First, appoint yourself as an expert. No-one else is going to do this for you. Then write some reports or other educational material that can be given to interested homeowners that shows them that you are indeed an expert.

2. Write a Consumers’ Guide. A booklet such as a consumer guide educates homeowners on why they need to have carpets cleaned regularly and how to choose a reputable carpet cleaner. Don’t make it a sales pitch at all. Simply present information that the homeowner can learn from and they will view you as the expert. People are desperate for information to help them make the right decision.

3. Make sure you don’t use ‘image’ advertising. Leave this for the big boys who can afford to waste some of their money. A small business owner needs to know that every advert is really a ‘salesman in print’ that has to earn its keep. Again, give the consumer information so they can make an informed decision.

4. Have a recorded message telephone line. There are many telecoms companies in the UK now that provide these. You can record an educational message which can last ten minutes or so and cover areas such as:

  • misconceptions about carpet cleaning
  • different methods of cleaning
  • how to choose a carpet cleaner

These also have the hidden benefit of pre-qualifying prospects. Those who simply want a ‘cheap and cheerful clean’ will realise that that’s not what you do and won’t waste your valuable time.

Plus, prospects can get what they want (information) anytime of the day or night without you have to spend time with them.

It’s completely automated.